Oct. 23—COLUMBIA — South Carolina would have rather played last week, for two reasons, other than enjoying its bye week.
One, with the wave of upsets last week and the Gamecocks usually the underdog, who's to say they couldn't have pulled off one?
Two, they played so well at Florida that of course they want to keep playing and not disrupt the routine.
But they can't change the schedule, so they'll host No. 11 Tennessee on Saturday as it plays its eighth game in eight weeks. It's always a strange affair when these two meet at Williams-Brice Stadium.
Key players
South Carolina
Tomiwa Durojaiye and Kelby Collins (or Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy, who is healthy but who knows how much he plays). They'll be the first to get a crack at stopping the Volunteers' DeSean Bishop, the drive shaft of Tennessee's offense. Don't slow him up and it's going to be a long, bad day.
Tennessee
Tyree Weathersby and Xavier Gilliam. With 11 1/2 sacks between them this year (the Vols lead the country in sacks), they're two members of a snarling defensive line that shut down Alabama last week. The Gamecocks' offensive line has given LaNorris Sellers a clean pocket for most of the year. That has to continue Saturday to keep the offense flowing.
Key matchup
Kendal Briles vs. Jim Knowles. The Vols' defensive coordinator is the toast of Knoxville this week after he stole Alabama's cigars, and he has his eye on swiping all the QB awards Sellers won after the Florida game. Briles, who has been masterful this year despite USC's passing game many times doing him no favors, can't do anything about it when his QB doesn't throw the ball well or receivers drop passes. But if they are doing what they're supposed to do, it's his scheme that has to put them in position to do so.
Key storyline
Was the Florida win the season saver? If the Gamecocks can keep winning, yes. The second half of the schedule, so formidable in preseason, now looks so much less. A win here would send USC into a stretch of three games where the Gamecocks would be favored every time and channel memories of 2024, when a 3-3 record at midseason was eclipsed by six straight victories. A loss, particularly one where the offense is ineffective (and that's outside of just how good Tennessee's defense is), and it's back to the three-week malaise before Florida.
Complete with tossing Ronsonol on the embers under Shane Beamer's chair.
Final prediction: Tennessee 24, South Carolina 16
The line swung from the Vols as a 3-point favorite to the Gamecocks up 2 1/2 , not that Vegas always knows (hey there, Florida game). I just look at it as a game that could definitely be talked into going USC's way but just won't happen. This is usually the kind of game the Gamecocks drop, when they have momentum and are playing at home. And asking USC's offense and defense, which each transformed into the kind of team everyone thought they'd see this year at Florida, to stay consistent is like asking anything orange to admit it lost a notable battle without resorting to, "Well, the other side cheated."
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